


Day 8: The Fear of Memories

by JudeMathis



Series: 12 Days of VLD Whumpmas [8]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Aftermath, Day 8, Hurt Keith (Voltron), Insomnia, Late Night Conversations, M/M, Mental Health Day, Mental Health Issues, Nightmares, Outer Space, Panic Attacks, Post-Battle, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Shiro (Voltron), Sharing a Bed, Sleepless nights, Space Husbands, Whump, caretaker shiro, vldwhumpmas2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 22:57:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13133958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JudeMathis/pseuds/JudeMathis
Summary: Day Eight: Mental Health DayKeith’s struggle with PTSD for Sheith - panic attack





	Day 8: The Fear of Memories

**Shiro’s pov**

It had been a tough few days for everyone because of the last few battles that we have been dealing with, everyone was feeling exhausted though as Allura deemed that we were allowed to rest for a few days. I knew that it had been the last few days had been really hard on Keith because of the way that he had been acting, It seemed like something was bothering him and I had a feeling on what was causing this change of behavior in him. Keith had been pretty distant lately as it seemed like the smallest thing was agitating him, I didn’t know what suddenly brought this on, but hopefully after a few days of rest will help him out. Everyone needs it and we were far enough from Zarkon that it would be difficult for  him to find us during the time that we are resting. A bed sounds really good right now and I don’t plan on leaving it until after I’ve had a good night's sleep. I just hope that everyone else can especially Keith since he needs it the most right now since there are terrible bags underneath his eyes and just how run down he looks gives it away on how bad he is feeling. 

I let out a small breath returning to my room for the night, crawling into my bed to sleep for as long as possible. 

**Keith’s pov**

The room was quiet as I was laying on my bed trying to get some sleep, but it wasn’t coming that easily. I had been woken up by the sudden nightmare that came out of nowhere which made it difficult to go back to sleep. Plus my insomnia decided that this was going to be the perfect time for it act up, I could tell that it was going to be a long night already even though exhaustion loomed over my head. I knew that my attitude has been pretty bad lately because of the exhaustion from the recent battles over the last few days and the nightmares that continued to keep me up at night. Sleep wasn’t going to come easily tonight and I didn’t want to bother anyone with this especially Shiro, everyone needed to rest for a few days. No one needed to be focused on worrying about me, I would be fine once the nightmares and sleepless nights decided to stop. It was unknown on when that was going to be, but hopefully it will be soon or I’ll be a lot more cranky with a bad attitude. Besides the last thing that I want to do was pass out in front of everyone because of my exhaustion. I let out a small sigh before hiding myself underneath my covers hoping that I would be able to drift off for the rest of the night if the nightmares decided to leave me alone for the rest of the night. 

**Shiro’s pov**

My eyes flickered open at the sound of some noises coming from Keith’s room, I shifted moving to sit up, trying to get the sleepily feeling that was looming over my head to go away first. The noises got a bit louder causing me to get up since it sounded like the familiar noises of someone having a nightmare, I knew how bad the nightmares could get for Keith though. They have always been bad since our days at the Galaxy Garrison, I remember having to come to his room to calm him down before it was discovered that Keith had PTSD. I was the only who could calm him down though because of how bad his trust issues were especially when his PTSD got triggered. I could understand on why he had a case of PTSD though since it came from the fear of being abandoned once again. I had promised him that I wasn’t going to let it happen again, but that was a promise that ended up getting broken when I was captured by the Galra. There was much that I needed to make up to him, but it was difficult to do that now since we were in the middle of a war. There were little things that I could do now, but I had no idea if it would be enough... There was much that I needed to do to fix everything that has happened between us so far. It didn’t take long for to reach Keith’s room as the door opened to let me in, Keith was already sitting up as I could see his chest heaving from the nightmare that he most likely was having. I needed to get him calm and to focus on me to get whatever feelings of terror and anxiety that he was feeling at the moment. I moved to sit down on the bed carefully to avoid from scaring him even more since Keith would try and strike me if he got the chance to 

“It’s okay, Keith. I’m going to put my arms around you okay?” 

There was a small nod for a second telling me that he was slightly aware of his surroundings, but probably wouldn’t be too to much longer if this issue from his PTSD continued. I rested my arms around him moving to rest Keith against my chest while leaning back so the both of us could be comfortable. I started to run my fingers through his hair gently, knowing that this was the best way to calm him down as it had worked many times before when Keith had an attack like this. He rested his forehead against my neck while I placed the blanket over us since I was planning on staying here with him for the rest of the night, I didn’t want to leave him alone when he was like this. He gripped my shirt tightly, clinging to me while staying as close as possible obviously wanting to forget about what he had seen in tonight’s nightmare. If he had been dealing with them for the past few days then it would explain the sudden behavior that Keith has been showing, it was always so hard for him as comforting him and reminding him that he wasn’t alone was the only thing that I could to do to get him through this. Everyone had tough days as it was Keith’s turn to apparently have a hard time that just wasn’t because of the exhaustion that loomed over his head. I just laid there with Keith though since it was the one thing that he needed right now 

“You’re not alone, Keith. I’m here, everyone is here. I won’t leave you alone again, I promise you this time. Nothing will pull us apart.” 

Blue-Gray eyes that were filled with exhaustion and fear looked up at as the grip that was holding my shirt tightened a bit 

“Promise?” 

I nodded placing a kiss on his forehead rubbing his back gently to reassure him 

“I promise, I’m not going to go anywhere.” 

That seemed to reassure Keith as his breathing had started to calm down and the tension seemed to leave his body. I knew that he was finally calm as reassurance was the one thing that he needed, I gave a gentle smile placing a kiss on his forehead once more 

“Let’s try and get some more sleep okay? We’re both exhausted and you could use some rest.” 

Keith nodded resting his forehead against my neck once more as I started to rub his back gently to help him drift off into sleep. I assumed that it had taken at least an hour to get Keith to calm down, but if I needed to do this again then I would. I wasn’t going to leave him to suffer like this, Keith needed me and I would do anything in my power to make sure that he was okay. He was a very important person to me as much as I was an important person to him. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> It's a bit on the short side since I did struggle a bit writing for this prompt. I hope that you still enjoyed reading it though!


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